Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm
The corporate governance environment has changed. The rate of CEO successions is naturally trending up, succession planning is in dire need of repair, and boards are under increasing pressure to focus on oversight. This confluence of events creates a 'perfect storm.' Within this new environment, interim successions are on the rise. But is it all bad news? This article explores the decision of corporate directors to use temporary chief executive officers (CEOs) and the roles served by these interim leaders. We include a typology of interim CEOs and prescribe the contexts in which organizations can strategically pursue this type of succession. We conclude with a list of recommendations for how boards can most effectively manage interim leadership in the new corporate governance environment.
Authors :: Christine H. Mooney, Matthew Semadeni, Idalene F. Kesner
Swot Analysis of "Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm" written by Christine H. Mooney, Matthew Semadeni, Idalene F. Kesner includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Interim Successions facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic planning, Succession planning and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Interim Successions, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Interim Successions operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Interim Successions
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Interim Successions
Strengths Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Interim Successions in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Interim Successions has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Interim Successions has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Interim Successions is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Interim Successions has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Interim Successions to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Interim Successions has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Training and development
– Interim Successions has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Interim Successions is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Interim Successions is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Interim Successions to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Interim Successions to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Interim Successions in the sector have low bargaining power. Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Interim Successions to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Interim Successions
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Interim Successions does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Interim Successions needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm, is just above the industry average. Interim Successions needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Interim Successions is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Interim Successions 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Interim Successions has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Lack of clear differentiation of Interim Successions products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Interim Successions needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Interim Successions has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Interim Successions, firm in the HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm HBR case study mentions - Interim Successions takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Interim Successions has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Interim Successions even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm, it seems that the employees of Interim Successions don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Opportunities Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Interim Successions can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Interim Successions has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Interim Successions can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Interim Successions to increase its market reach. Interim Successions will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Interim Successions can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Interim Successions can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Interim Successions operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Interim Successions can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Interim Successions can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Interim Successions has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Interim Successions to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Interim Successions in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Interim Successions to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Interim Successions to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Interim Successions is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Interim Successions can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm are -
Increasing wage structure of Interim Successions
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Interim Successions.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Interim Successions can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Interim Successions has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Interim Successions needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Interim Successions can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm, Interim Successions may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Interim Successions business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Interim Successions.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Interim Successions needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Interim Successions high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Regulatory challenges
– Interim Successions needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Interim Successions can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Interim Successions will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Interim Successions needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.